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Day 3 Assignment
Reply to post your assignment.
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7 Replies
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STEP 1: Write a logline for the transformational journey. Fitness instructor Jake’s optimism is challenged as he must become virtual due to COVID, escape and balance on boats during floods, and help himself and others as he gets Parkinson’s and his parents ALS and Alzheimer’s. His antagonists, the static igneous rocks of the Palisades finally get to express themselves as death angels.
STEP 2: Define the Old Ways of life that the characters live out of at the beginning of the story. In the beginning, Jake was a 40 year old narcissistic fitness star with ADHD, in love with the mirror and his ear buds. Magma rocks are locked down since their eruption 200 million years ago during the Jurassic period, squished between Manhattan and the West Point Military Academy on the Hudson River.
STEP 3: Define the New Way of life the characters take on by the end of the story. Magma rocks develop gradients of evil and hatred of humans as Jake evolves into humanity, creating the seismic seesaw between Jake and the Magma Monsters, the title of my third novel. During COVID Jake learns to listen, become empathic, develop innovative programs, and do house calls with his doctor Mom as she gradually loses her memory. He gets EMS training and learns humility when his buddy and his parents die despite his compressions. He learns a new way of loving and a new approach to wellness that is not ableism or exclusive. As Jake ages and becomes kinder and more loving, the Magma Monsters kill and torture the characters with diseases and the area with floods due to climate crises. MM’s rage against humans increases until the end after Jake and his Native American wife Litonya have died but then they become part of the rock cycle, circling with sedimentary and metamorphic rock so that there is no apocalypse, and the children and grandchildren have the beautiful green earth at the end of the 21<sup style=”font-family: inherit;”>st</sup> century!
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What I learned is that although Jake has ADHD, I don’t, and I must focus on the seismic seesaw between Jake and the Magma Monsters with the right timeline despite a plethora of plot lines, minor characters, and action that has developed since the trilogy began in 1998. Screenwriting is good to sharpen focus.
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Heather’s assignment, Andrew McKinnons’s transformational journey.
What I learned from this assignment was:
I think I have to rewrite the screenplay to reflect Andrew’s journey from old to new. I think the journey needs to be more defined in the second and third act.
Tell us your logline for the transformational
journey.Old logline: 1886- British Columbia’s mystical coastline, where Native legends spring to life: to bring his family to Canada, an elderly sea captain must tackle this challenging coast and overcome the demons of his youth so he can reach the first Klondike gold claim.
New logline: Canada 1886: An elderly sea captain with a brutal past, must challenge all believes about himself, to tackle the mystical British Columbia coastline and lead a handful of adventurers to the first Klondike gold claim.
Pretty similar, but the second focuses more on the lead character and his journey.
Tell us what you see as the Old Ways.
Problem State for Andrew:
1. Trying to overcome his violent past:
· his temper.
· his past reputation (he killed a man in the boxing ring)
2. The prejudice of others (Irish in an English world 1886)
3. ‘you win the fight any way you can’ because it’s an unfair world.
4. Tucked way down in a mental box where no one can see it, maybe not even Andrew, is the 10-year-old boy who was captured and sold to Ottoman slavers – he still feels he is unworthy of anything.
Tell us what you see as the New Ways.
Andrew’s new ways:
1. Other see value in him – he begins to see this too.
2. Life can be fun after all.
3. Instead of getting angry, let it go. Just breathe.
4. You do the best you can and you are not responsible for other’s feelings.
5. No one is perfect.
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Day 3: Christopher Carlson’s Transformational Journey
What I learned doing this assignment is that in order to fully grasp the character’s transformational journey the audience will need to understand the society of the historical era, its expectations and rules.
1.Tell us your logline for the transformational journey.
After a deaf and blind woman falls in love with a hearing and sighted young man, she rebels against the expectations of her family and society by conspiring with her lover to fulfill her secret yearning to experience love and sexuality.
2. Tell us what you see as the Old Ways.
Old ways: a character who accepts the general societal rules of her era (late 19<sup>th</sup> century/early 20<sup>th</sup>century) which forbid any so-called ‘handicapped person’ from expressing or experiencing their sexuality; a character who has lived her life under the close watch of her family and teachers, conforming to strict expectations of what is considered ‘acceptable’ behavior.
3. Tell us what you see as the New Ways.
New ways: a character who is willing to thwart her society and express her sexuality without feelings of guilt. By doing so, she resets her relationships with those people closest to her who were keeping her in check; a character who fulfills her yearning to have a physical relationship; a character who emerges with a stronger sense of herself and feels like a more realized human being.
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Julia’s Transformational Journey
What I learned: To keep following the puzzle process! It’s helping me get from what I started with (title, vague idea) to concept. Also, I appreciate Hal’s reminders not to get too attached to any of the pieces. At this point, I’m attached only to my title (LIFE WRITING) and profound truth – but even those may change.
Logline: When a demanding Manhattan editor tries to sneak out of her mandated community service teaching memoir writing to senior citizens, the seniors hold her hostage (at an off-season summer camp) until she helps them with all of their stories.
Old Ways:
· Her main rule: Only excellence matters
· Arrogant, snobby, sense of superiority
· Self-centered
· Feels like a piece of crap about herself inside – fears her own lack of talent
New Ways:
· Compassionate, loving
· Appreciates all kinds of stories
· Starts writing her own story
· Open to love relationship
BTW, I love my classmates’ profound truths and concepts – it’s wonderful to see them unfold.
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Cindi’s Transformational Journey
What I learned doing this assignment is that it brought further clarity to an idea that I already thought I had established. I love this class!
1. Tell us your logline for the transformational journey.
A resentful, overburdened daughter must fight the terror of her father’s Alzheimer’s-induced hallucinations (or possession by very real evil entities) until they both encounter empowering gifts and a previously unknown level of unconditional love.
2. Tell us what you see as the Old Ways.
Problem State: Ellie believes caring for her father is destroying her on multiple levels. Her father feels he now exists in a state of shame and disgrace and the value of his life is lost.
Her main rule: Just survive hour by hour. Don’t think, and definitely don’t feel. You must sacrifice your own life and anything that brings you joy, yet others (your siblings) are free to enjoy life, so it’s not fair.
His main rule: Try not to burden others or be incontinent of stool on the couch. Try to maintain your good image at all costs. Try not to become mean like other people with Alzheimer’s because you were always so nice and well-liked in the community. Try to hide your condition.
Caring for someone with/or having Alzheimer’s is:
*horrible
*embarrassing
*disgracing
*burdensome
*guilt-inducing, no matter which choices you make
*strains or severs relationships with loved ones
*overwhelming
*victimizing
*constant fear
*creates powerlessness
*thankless work
*robs a lifetime of financial savings
*creates a stressful bombardment of negative opinions and judgments of well-meaning others
*erases the value of your life
*prevents her from focusing on her career or being successful while her peers are thriving
*makes her believe she’s a failure, creates self-doubts, destroys self-esteem
3. Tell us what you see as the New Ways.
The Solution State: Caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s offers empowering gifts, wild blessings, and a profound depth of spirit.
Caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s/having Alzheimer’s is an opportunity to:
*discover surprising hidden gifts and abilities.
*learn humility.
*truly know unconditional love.
*see worth is not based on achievements, beauty, success, money, possessions, etc.
*be truly present.
*heal past wounds.
*live in gratitude.
*look for blessings.
*built peace for your future self
*grow spiritually.
*honor the moment.
*learn patience.
*face and triumph over darkness, evil, and terror.
*offer experiences that will help with delayed long-term goals that were put on hold.
*builds strength and beauty of character that will bless the future
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Cara Rogers’ Transformational Journey
1. Logline: An aspiring young pilot grounded on a devastated ranch fails to design a man-powered flying machine while learning he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be.
2. Old Ways: “I’ll do it on my own.” Distracted, unfocused, impulsive, unappreciative, frustrated, isolated.
3. New Ways: “Together we can do anything.” Focused, planning, cooperative, confident, appreciative, team player.
4. I learned I’ve got to make my lead character’s Old Ways more pronounced, more unlikable, so there’s more of an appreciation of his change to New Ways.
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